In December, 111 housing units were permitted, including 38
single- and 73 multi-family units. The top census tract for building permits
last month was 212 (the Greenbrier area), where 72 units were permitted, all apartment
units. This is a 58.6% increase over December 2012, when 70 housing units (58
single-family and 12 multi-family) were permitted.

Residential Certificates of Occupancy (new construction) in
Huntsville city limits:

91 housing units were granted certificates of occupancy
(CO’s), including 79 single- and 12 multi-family units. The top tract for CO’s
in the month of December was 112 (Martin-Zierdt) where 31 housing units were
added. This is a 33.1% decrease over December 2012, when 136 housing units (96
single- and 40 multi-family) were granted CO’s.

The 2013 edition of the Huntsville Development Review will be released on February 25th.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

It’s time for my annual predictions/educated guesses for
Huntsville development in 2014:

Comprehensive Plan

This year, Huntsville will begin work on a new comprehensive
plan—the first in this city since the 1960s. A public kickoff will occur in the
spring, and then we’ll begin general and neighborhood-specific conversations
about everything from transportation to land use. More information will come
available in the next few months, and I’ll keep everyone updated on here and on
Twitter and Facebook.

Downtown

Downtown will be hot this year. Twickenham Square opens in
the spring, with more apartments, a hotel, restaurants and a Publix. If
everything goes well, Charlie Sealy will get started on his next project- The Avenue, a mix of apartments, offices and retail- by the end of the year at the
corner of Holmes and Jefferson. With the Holiday Inn closed, its site will now
be solicited for redevelopment proposals, along with the parking garage across
Monroe from the VBC. The latter will likely be a new hotel; the former could be
an entertainment or even a residential development. I expect one more major
project to be announced in the next few months. Towards the end of the year,
talk of a downtown baseball stadium may turn serious, but only if a new team/ownership
is secured.

Central Parkway

I know… This is the third year I’ve said this, but I’m
serious this time! The Parkway between Governors and Airport-- what I like to
call “Central Parkway”—is about to explode in new development. Of course,
Walmart is going to build their new store on the East side of the Parkway. That
will leave their existing store vacant, though I don’t see that site sitting
idle for long. A development plan will be released for the John Hunt Park
commercial site, where GBT Realty (Madison Target) was selected to develop the
site. With the Stars’ last game in September, Joe Davis Stadium will also be in
play.

Etc…

I expect to have two (maybe three) new grocery
chains announce that they are entering the Huntsville market by the end of this
year, and the chains already here will continue to expand. A major
redevelopment will be announced in the first few months of the year. Bridge
Street’s expansion opens in October. Around the end of the year, we may hear
more about the Jones Valley retail project.